Latest Reports

• Data Center Managed Services: Revolutionizing Data Center Operations with Generative AI

  Managing a data center involves a complex interplay of hardware, software, security, and scalability considerations, presenting challenges that organizations may struggle to address internally. Service providers harness AI and predictive algorithms to anticipate potential issues, enabling proactive maintenance and minimizing downtime. Generative AI takes this narrative forward and empowers organizations in resource optimization and allocation by predicting workloads and dynamically adjusting the resource provisioning on demand, enabling efficient data center management. Both demand-side and supply-side trends are covered in Avasant’s Data Center Managed Services 2023–2024 Market Insights™ and Data Center Managed Services 2023–2024 RadarView™, respectively.

  November, 2023

• Workday HCM Services: Transforming HR processes with Generative AI

  Organizations are increasingly adopting Workday HCM to standardize HR processes, boost employee engagement, and improve system integration. This adoption is helping them overcome challenges such as workflow redundancy, data visibility issues, and process inefficiencies. To further enhance the effectiveness of Workday HCM, service providers are actively developing tools and accelerators to address data errors and streamline HR processes. Moreover, the integration of generative AI within the HCM framework marks a transformative leap toward efficiency, enabling companies to significantly reduce human effort through automated job descriptions, targeted candidate shortlisting, and personalized interview question suggestions. Both demand-side and supply-side trends are covered in Avasant's Workday HCM Services 2023–2024 Market Insights™ and Avasant's Workday HCM Services 2023–2024 RadarView™, respectively.

  November, 2023

• Tech-enabled Sustainability Services: Leveraging Digital Technology for Integrating Sustainability Into Core Business Operations

  Enterprises are integrating sustainability into core business operations due to increased regulatory disclosure requirements and pressure from internal and external stakeholders. Manufacturing, BFSI, retail and CPG, and utilities and resources industries are leading the adoption of sustainability services through projects in green IT, green financing, and sustainable product design. While cloud and automation have found their way into production sustainability projects, enterprises are still gauging the effectiveness of next-generation technologies such as Gen AI for tackling sustainability challenges. Both demand- and supply-side trends are covered in Avasant’s Tech-enabled Sustainability Services 2023–2024 Market Insights™ and Tech-enabled Sustainability Services 2023–2024 RadarView™, respectively.

  November, 2023

• IT Security Outsourcing is Burgeoning but Facing Service and Cost Challenges

  IT security is a major focus for IT leaders, and that is unlikely to change in the near future. The threat landscape continues to evolve with greater diversity in the IT service portfolio, more employees working from home, and a more burdensome regulatory environment. To combat these threats, organizations are turning to IT security outsourcing firms to handle higher-value security tasks. This Research Byte summarizes our full report on IT security outsourcing trends.

  November, 2023

• IT Help Desk Outsourcing Saves Money, but What’s the Trade-Off?

  The decision to turn over an IT organization’s help desk function to a service provider is more complicated than it appears. In 2023, our research shows that most IT organizations surveyed rely on service providers to perform the help desk function, to at least some extent. Help desk outsourcing typically saves money, but sometimes at the cost of service. So, what’s more important? Saving money or improving the service? This Research Byte provides a summary of our full report on IT help desk outsourcing.

  November, 2023

• Generative AI-based Security Tools are, in Effect, Fighting Fire with Fire

  Following the cultural and technological explosion brought forth by the launch of OpenAI’s ChatGPT last fall, the security industry has seen enormous investment in technologies for large language models (LLMs), such as generative AI. While players like Google and Microsoft have launched new generative AI security products, IBM, CrowdStrike, and Tenable have integrated features into their existing products. Though each product has its own capabilities, the focal point is to automate threat hunting and prioritize breach alerts. However, the rise of generative AI also includes the opportunity for threat actors. It has potentially lowered the barrier of entry for cybercriminals to develop sophisticated business email compromise phishing campaigns, find and exploit zero-day vulnerabilities, probe for critical infrastructure, create and distribute malware, and much more.

  November, 2023

• Shifting Toward Tech-enabled Trust and Safety

  The emergence of new-age tools and technologies, such as generative AI and the metaverse, has led to a rapid and increased production of content and complexities in the online space in terms of new regulations and compliances. This exponential growth in content creation and consumption, driven by generative AI and content automation tools, further accentuates the need for robust trust and safety measures. Effectively addressing trust and safety gaps through a human-AI model is paramount for a safer online environment. Additionally, placing employee well-being and wellness at the forefront of trust and safety operations is becoming increasingly pivotal. These factors collectively shape the dynamic landscape of trust and safety in the digital age. Both demand-side and supply-side trends are covered in our Trust and Safety Business Process Transformation 2023–2024 Market Insights™ and Trust and Safety Business Process Transformation 2023–2024 RadarView™, respectively.

  November, 2023

• Process Transformation for Compliant, Cost-Efficient, and Employee-Centered Payroll

  Payroll is a backend, internal business function with the sole objective of paying people in an accurate and timely manner. Hence, process transformation has never been the topmost priority for payroll professionals. Lately, businesses are transforming their people, processes, and technology to improve compliance and costs and manage ancillary priorities such as unifying global payroll operations, generating payroll insights, improving employee experience, and facilitating seamless employee mobility. Companies are increasingly partnering with payroll service providers to consolidate their vendor base, improve digital adoption, and offer on-demand payroll. As a result, the number of active clients of payroll business process transformation service providers has increased by 21% between June 2022–June 2023. Both demand- and supply-side trends are covered in Avasant’s Payroll Business Process Transformation 2023–2024 Market Insights™ and Payroll Business Process Transformation 2023–2024 RadarView™, respectively.

  November, 2023

• Digital Talent Capability: Gearing Up for a Skills-based Talent Strategy

  With rapid digitalization, enterprises are creating a high demand for digital skills. Advances in generative AI and the adoption of large language models (LLMs) are disrupting the talent landscape, with current roles being reshaped and new job roles such as prompt engineers, LLM architects, and data curators and trainers seeing high demand. The gig work model is seeing long-term adoption, with the demand for gig workers increasing by 41% during 2016–2022, driven by access to specialized skills and cost benefits. The demand is further enhanced by global capability centers (GCCs) ramping up hiring to access skilled talent in locations like India. As a result, finding and retaining the right digital talent has become increasingly difficult for organizations. To address the challenges of the competitive talent landscape, enterprises pivot toward skills-based models of talent recruitment and development. Both demand-side and supply-side trends are covered in Avasant’s Digital Talent Capability 2023–2024 Market Insights™ and Digital Talent Capability 2023–2024 RadarView™, respectively.

  November, 2023

• Service Success a Priority Over Cost for System Integration Outsourcing

  While many outsourcing decisions are influenced by the need to save money, system implementation/integration outsourcing differs. There are some instances where businesses are willing to pay extra for the expertise or operational flexibility that a service provider can deliver. However, in the case of system implementation/integration, the primary motivation is to ensure project success. This Research Byte summarizes our full report on System Implementation/Integration Outsourcing Trends and Customer Experience.

  November, 2023

• CRM Necessary but Hard to Manage

  CRM systems are one of the most widely adopted categories of enterprise applications. Modern CRM systems are essential for companies looking to improve their productivity and effectiveness in sales, marketing, and customer service. However, investing in a new CRM system can be a messy business. At the core, a CRM system needs to interact with data across the entire business. Business processes should change to match the new capabilities, and people need to be trained on the new system. Hidden or unexpected costs can quickly add up, and missteps can result in a major setback, or worse, project failure. This Research Byte summarizes our full report on CRM Adoption Trends and Customer Experience.

  October, 2023

• Enterprise Architecture Popular but Inconsistently Practiced

  Enterprise architecture is an IT best practice that has been around since the 1980s. It provides a description of the organization in its desired state. With the obvious benefits of this approach, you would think more enterprises would make heavy use of it. However, while it is one of the most adopted practices in our study, most organizations practice it inconsistently, availing only a portion of its benefits. This Research Byte discusses the importance of enterprise architecture and its adoption trends.

  October, 2023